June 5^th, 2002 (12:00am) - It was only March 2002 when they picked up their first ever Gold Award for their big hit - Metal Gear Solid 2, but just one month on, publisher - Konami are already presented with their second Gold Award for Pro Evolution Soccer, which was released in week 47 of 2001 and has already reached sales in excess of 200k

The latest Silver Award winners for sales in excess of 100K units are:

Army Men 3D (PlayStation) published by 3DO Europe

Dukes of Hazzard - Racing for Home (PlayStation) published by Ubisoft

Burnout (PS2) published by Acclaim Entertainment

Roger Bennett, Director General of ELSPA commented on the significance of these awards:

"It is due to these continuous sales achievements that the UK’s leisure software market has reached the level it is at today. Last year, sales reached an all time high, with an increase on the previous year of 36%, bringing the leisure software market to a massive £1.6 billion. And with consumers now spending more on leisure software than on renting videos or visits to the cinema, the market is now poised to overtake the music industry in terms of consumer spend".

Peter Stone, UK General Manager for Konami commented:

"At the time of its release, prior to Christmas last year, Pro Evolution Soccer was hailed as the finest football game for PS2. Since then, word of mouth has continued to spread and the game continues to be one of the top-selling games on the format, week in week out. It is triumph for gameplay".